Ukrainian drone strikes target Russian airports for the second time this week

• All four Russian airports suspended operations on Monday after Ukrainian drones were shot down overhead.
• Ukrainian drones have disrupted the airport area in recent weeks.
• And on Friday, airports in the region were also closed because another drone was found in Russian airspace.

Ukrainian drones on Monday wreaked havoc on Moscow’s airports for the second time in a week, grounding flights and delaying operations for hours until Russia’s missile defense system went into effect.

And the Russian state information agency said, today, Monday, TASS Midday flights were delayed at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo, Vnukovo and Zhukovsky airports as well as more than 50 flights diverted earlier in the day.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that two drone attacks were repelled in the region, one of which landed in the Ruza region after being suppressed with electronic warfare equipment, TASS reported. The other was shot down over the Istra region.

A strike was dropped on Monday near the home of one of Russia’s most prolific publicists – Margarita Simonyan, head of the Russian state television network RT, The telegraph mentioned. Simonyan said the debris fell hundreds of meters from her home, the outlet reported.

Insider reported that a similar incident occurred on Friday when a Ukrainian drone was intercepted in the area, causing the closure of all four major domestic and international airports.

Friday’s incident is the third time that a drone strike or debris has targeted the Moscow region, where civilian airports are stationed, CNN mentioned.

As part of its summer counteroffensive backed primarily by Western allies, including the United States, the Ukrainian military has been turning more and more to drone strikes within Russia’s borders, including sensitive Russian targets around the Black Sea.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian drone boats badly damaged the Russian warship Olenegorsky Gornyak. A day later, naval drones hit a critical link in the supply chain used to move fuel and military equipment between Russia and Syria.